A father and son were arrested Thursday in connection with separate fraud schemes -- one of them a shakedown that targeted small businesses -- moments before boarding a Russia-bound plane.

Viktor Ryzhkin, 45, and his son Evgenii Ryzhkin, 22, of Los Angeles were arrested as they prepared to board a plane to Moscow with two other family members at Los Angeles International Airport. The pair face federal fraud charges for separate alleged crimes, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

The older Ryzhkin was arrested on suspicion of sending thousands of fake invoices to small-business owners in California. The shakedown caused at least 5,000 victims to send $225 to a fake company that purported to be a state agency.

Viktor Ryzhkin received only a fraction of the money, with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service intercepting the rest, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office. Investigators are sifting through the intercepted mailings, which contain amounts that...

The 149 air traffic control towers that were slated to close this summer because of the federal sequestration will remain open until at least September, federal officials said Friday.

The Federal Aviation Administration said legislation approved by Congress last month lets it transfer funds from other accounts to keep the towers open until the end of the fiscal year.

The towers, run by contract workers, operate at small airports such as Oxnard Airport, Riverside Municipal Airport, Fullerton Municipal Airport, Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville and Brown Field Municipal Airport in San Diego. 

The FAA, which is required by the federal "sequester" to cut more than $600 million from its annual budget, had planned to close the towers in June.

The FAA announced last month that the same legislation freed up enough money to put an end to furloughs of air traffic controllers, which had led to flight delays at several major airports.

“This...

After months of headaches brought on by its 787 Dreamliner jet, Boeing Co. is now back on track and even speeding the production rate of the new airliner.

The aerospace giant said it has increased the production rate of seven airplanes per month at its Everett, Wash., factory. The program is set to reach 10 per month by year-end.

It’s good news for the beleaguered 787 program. Around the world, all 787s had been grounded from Jan. 16 until late last month because of safety concerns with the plane's lithium-ion battery system.

FULL COVERAGE: Boeing's troubled Dreamliner

During that time, Boeing had not been allowed to deliver any new 787s but continued building them.

Before the grounding order, the company delivered 50 of the planes to eight airlines worldwide, including United Airlines, the only U.S. carrier that operates 787s.

The program has more than 800 unfilled orders with 58 customers worldwide.

Final assembly of the 787 is in Everett, but the bulk of the large components...

The U.S. Postal Service lost $1.9 billion during its second quarter -- and losses will continue mounting if Congress doesn't pass legislation giving the beleaguered mail carrier more flexibility in how it runs its operations, the postmaster general said Friday.

“To return the Postal Service to solvency requires a comprehensive approach, which is reflected in our updated five-year business plan,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

“The major elements of the plan must be pursued and executed within a short window of opportunity to avoid unsustainable losses and potentially becoming a long-term burden to the American taxpayer,” he said in a statement.

The U.S. Postal Service, which has seen mail volumes decline precipitously, has struggled to meet its financial obligations.

It has already reached its debt limit of $15 billion and has defaulted on $11.1 billion due for retiree health benefits last year. It expects to default on an additional $5.6 billion in...

Abercrombie & Fitch, the clothing retailer, has caught flak in recent days for controversial comments made in 2006 by its chief executive.

The image-conscious company does not make or sell women’s clothing in any size above large, which is an issue for some. Its biggest size in women's pants is a 10.

A petition on Change.org to pressure the company into changing that policy had drawn 3,674 supporters.  There’s also an open letter by a blogger at the Huffington Post addressed to Chief Executive Michael S. Jeffries describing the reasons she won’t let her daughters buy Abercrombie & Fitch clothes anymore.

QUIZ: Do you know your premium jeans?

All of this stems from an interview that Jeffries had with Salon magazine in 2006 that resurfaced and went viral this week.

“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he’s quoted as saying in the article. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after...

High-end jeans seller True Religion Apparel Inc. will be sold to investment firm TowerBrook Capital Partners for $835 million, the companies said.

The Vernon, Calif., designer denim brand, known for pricing its products well into the three figures, said its board unanimously accepted the $32-a-share offer.

The deal represents an 8.7% premium on Thursday’s $29.44-a-share closing price and a 52% increase from the stock price on Oct. 9, the day before True Religion disclosed that it would explore strategic alternatives for the company.

On Friday, True Religion shares were halted in New York after closing up 3.2% the day before.

The arrangement with TowerBrook, which is based in New York and London, is expected to close in the third quarter if True Religion shareholders sign off.

The apparel maker, which sells jeans in boutiques as well as in 124 eponymous U.S. stores and 31 international locations, was founded in 2002 by Jeff Lubell.

In March, two weeks after the company declined to...

SpaceX, the Hawthorne rocket maker, has found a new home for flight testing on its reusable rocket.

The company has signed a three-year agreement to lease land and facilities at Spaceport America, the state-owned commercial launch site located 55 miles north of Las Cruces, N.M.

The announcement was made earlier this week by New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez.

SpaceX, short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has been working to perfect its Grasshopper rocket technology. The years-long project is to develop what would be the first-ever fully reusable rocket -- the holy grail in rocketry.

“I am thrilled that SpaceX has chosen to make New Mexico its home, bringing their revolutionary Grasshopper rocket and new jobs with them,” Martinez said. “We’ve done a lot of work to level the playing field so we can compete in the space industry. This is just the first step in broadening the base out at the spaceport.”

The new $209-million futuristic-looking facility...

NEW YORK -- California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris has accused JPMorgan Chase & Co. of using fraudulent and unlawful debt-collection practices against some 100,000 credit card holders in the state.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday, Harris' office claims the major Wall Street bank employed abusive and illegal practices over at least three years.

Chase's use of illegal robo-signing was “widespread,” Harris' office alleges. The practice involved automatic signing of various documents -- some sworn -- without reviewing the paperwork or bank records.

"Sewer service" litigation against borrowers was also used by Chase, the suit alleges. The bank failed to even notify credit card holders it was taking them to court, while Chase claimed they had been notified as required by law, Harris' office claims.

Chase, the lawsuit claims, effectively used California's judicial system like a "mill" to obtain default judgments and garnish borrowers' wages. The bank filed thousands of lawsuits every...

California officials are looking to build on a federal effort to disclose more healthcare pricing information to consumers.

Medicare officials released new data this week that showed wildly different hospital charges across the nation for 100 of the most common inpatient surgeries and procedures.

Federal regulators said they don't see any justification for why prices for the same treatment differ as much as 40 times among nearby hospitals, and that medical centers charging the highest amounts warrant greater scrutiny.

Video chat: Join us at 2 p.m.

Covered California, a state agency charged with implementing the federal healthcare law, plans to require health insurers selling policies in a state-run exchange next year to give consumers detailed information on their expected medical costs before they undergo a test or procedure.

State officials said they also plan to analyze claims data from those insurers to gauge whether health plans are paying reasonable rates and rewarding high-...

The firm represented plaintiffs in a national class-action effort filed against the struggling Foothill Ranch company in July in federal court in Santa Ana.

The lawsuit alleged that former top Wet Seal executives denied equal pay and promotion opportunities to black store managers or removed them outright, replacing them with white employees.

In December, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that company honchos had discriminated against Nicole Cogdell by removing her from her manager's role at a Pennsylvania store.

The EEOC’s three-year investigation determined that Wet Seal sought an “Armani look” featuring workers who looked more like Barbie and Ken than Cogdell, who is black.

Quiz: How much do you know...

Shares of drug-testing firm Quintiles Transnational Holdings Inc. soared nearly 10% in Thursday trading, marking another strong debut for initial public offerings in a buoyant stock market.

Quintiles was up $3.80, or 9.5%, to $43.80 in midday trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange after opening at $40 a share. The continued upswing on Wall Street has boosted returns for several recent IPOs, such as builder Taylor Morrison Home Corp. and SeaWorld Entertainment Inc.

Quintiles works with pharmaceutical companies on drug development, clinical trials and other aspects of getting products to market with more than 27,000 employees in about 100 countries.

MORE: Market still reasonably priced

The Durham, N.C., company had $4.87 billion in revenue last year, up 12% over the previous year. The company's owners include private-equity firms TPG Capital and Bain Capital.

The overall stock market has continued to reach new heights. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index posted its fifth...